However, your username can also work against you. Include a little too much information and there’s a good chance that you’ll have a real hard time getting dates  I’ve posted a list of some usernames below that I believe will, um, hinder you from successfully finding a mate online (but what do I know, I’m still single).

Usernames guaranteed to keep you from meeting someone on internet dating sites (part 1):

For the guys

BigKnockerLuvr

DoinUrMom

14InchesofPain (that one might work, there’s some weird people out there)

ToeJam

Anything with 696969 following it

UMustBTite

NextStopBald

Last1sDead

ImBrokeRU

LivinWithMom

TaxCheat

ImOnParole

WhatJob

For the girls

BigSweetEater

NitPicker

TheNagger

PtheBed

TheAmazon

NeedaHorse

4thTimesACharm

ExactlyLikeMyMother

SocialLifeKiller

TheyllHateMe

NoUrWrong

OnceADude

PleasePleasePleaseDateMe

Caught dead using the wrong font

As some of my friend’s who will remain nameless (Jenn Mehlman) will tell you, I’m a bit of a font nerd. I believe that a font can make or break a design. A font conveys meaning and idea. It is one of the, if not the most, important things in a creative. I also watch documentaries about them.

That being said, I found this YouTube video that parodies Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”. It’s called “Neutra Face” which, if you’re unfamiliar, is a font.

Geeky? Yes. But funny too.

While I received an outpouring of birthday wishes today, there were a few notable absenses. Unfortunately, it was this time last year that I was at a completely different place in my life and I thought it was going in a completely different direction.  Yet, here I am, a year later, back in the same place I was before.  Starting from scratch.  Back on the hunt. While I truly believe that this is a better place to be, my mind can’t help but to reflect to a year ago.

I need sleep.

As my best friend loving pointed out, forty is rapidly approaching.  I think that 36 is an age when forty joins the conversation.  It’s not the featured guest, but it certainly has a seat at the table.  Forty. Where will I be then?  What will my life be like?  My head hurts to think about it.

What happened to thirty?

I don’t feel different.  Maybe a little bit more experienced.  Not apt to repeat some of the mistakes I’ve made in the past, yet poised to make new ones.  I don’t think that ever ends. Will I ever learn?  Not likely.

The family is celebrating on Wednesday.

My father’s birthday is three days from now.  We’re doing a dual-celebration dinner on Wednesday.  It will be nice to see everyone.  I wonder how reflective I’ll be then.  Maybe I’ll be more focused on my father’s remaining years than on my own.

Hopefully, I’ll be better rested.

Now, that’s a perfectly plausible story. Kids jump off things.  Hell, some even launch themselves in balloons, sort of. I truly hope that this kid is OK and he didn’t damage his noodle too badly… that is, if it really happened.

And that’s the problem with a last minute cancellation of a first date, it’s never believed.  No matter what the situation, no matter how dire, if you call to cancel a first date within 2 hours of the date beginning, you’re a liar. Sad, but true.

So, that being said, I find myself at home which, as a Dodger fan, is a good deal.  I’ve got a cold beer, a big TV, the Dodgers and the Phillies, and I don’t have to make small talk with a fibber.

This video.

So you know, I bought the mount so that I could use my GPS app.  It occurred to me yesterday that I could also mount the iPhone backwards and film myself while driving.

Yes, I do have too much time on my hands.

What’s interesting is that I never used to be that way. I used to enjoy being alone and enjoy being on my own. That’s not to say that I don’t now, but I’ve seen a side of life that I wasn’t too familiar with before and I liked it. Now I find myself missing it.

I’ve also noticed that I’ve become more discerning in dating than I was prior to my relationship. Before, I would go out on numerous dates a week, meeting and enjoying people even if I knew they weren’t a good match for me. Now, I found that I’ve become very choosy and are dismissing people left and right. I don’t know if this is because I’m looking at other people in a more long-term sense then I have in the past or if the characteristics of what I’m seeking in another person has changed over the course of the last year, but I’m definitely scrutinizing the women I meet much more then before.

So, I’ve come out on the other side of this relationship having seemingly ‘grown’, but I don’t know if it’s for the better. I’ve always been a big believer in that there are no bad things in life, just experiences. Some experiences are more pleasurable than others, but you walk away from each one learning something. I’ve learned something about myself and others in the last year, I just don’t know if this will end up being in the pleasurable experience column or not.

Broken(?) Samsung 56" DLP

building as required when exiting with a pet, I came out of the door nearest the trash.  There, sitting amongst the discarded foodstuffs and mixed recyclables, I spied a 56″ Hi-Def Samsung DLP TV resting next to the empty box of a new 36″ LCD TV. Pausing for a second, I quickly deduced that someone’s TV had broken and they decided to purchase a new one.  Normally, I wouldn’t give this any more thought, but I happen to own a Samsung DLP (a 46″ incher that I love) and know a little bit about them.  So, I continued to think about it as I accompanied my dog Penny as she took care of business.

As I walked with my dog, I thought about what could be wrong with the TV that someone would just discard it.  I arrived at three conclusions.  Either there was a power surge and the electronics were fried, which made it worthless; the bulb had burned out, which is easily replaced; or the color wheel had gone bad, which can also be replaced, but not as easily.  As I walked back into the building, I decided to investigate further.

I parked Penny back upstairs, grabbed my folding hand-truck and headed back to the trash heap.  After much struggle, I was able to wrangle this bumba back in to my condo.  I plugged into the wall and fired it up.  To my surprise, it turn on and the lamp lit up, so no, it wasn’t fried and the bulb was still good.  Then I heard the loud humming and grinding sound that is the tell-tale sign of a bad color wheel.  So, I shut it down and did a little research.

Color Me Bad

After a little spelunking through Google, I found this website that not only sold the replacement part, but also gave step by step instructions on how to install it.  I also stopped by my friend Scott Jangro’s site, where he put up an awesome article on diagnosing and fixing Samsung DLPs. The part was a little over $100, so I figured I’d take the gamble and see if I could make this work.  But then it occurred to me:  already having a Samsung DLP, I wondered if the same color wheel could be used in both units.  A little more Googling gave me the answer:  yes, they were the exact same part!

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning and began my mission:  removing the bad color wheel from the ‘trash’ TV and replacing it with the salvaged one from my current TV.  I followed the instructions that I found online and, after about 40 minutes, had made the transplant.  Now, the moment of truth.  I plugged the TV, flipped it on, and what do you know?  I had  a perfect picture!  I successfully resurrected a 56″ Hi-Def TV from the grave and gave myself another ten inches to watch football with.

New 56" Hi-Def Goodness

To put a capper on the story, my dad is going to pay the $100 for a new color wheel to put into my old 46″ and he’s going to upgrade from his 36″ CRT.  It’s a win-win-win for everyone involved… well, except for the person who tossed what turned out to be a perfectly good TV!

Then, you get kicked in the nuts.

There you are, having the best day you’ve had in weeks, when all of a sudden you come around the corner and run smack dab into your ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.  Boy, that’s fun, let me tell you.  The whole day of good shoved into the garbage disposal which is then run with no water.

This sucks.

I have an Apple TV which I use to display slide shows on the big screen in my living room of the photos kept on my Mac.  What I have found is that while this is an extremely useful feature, it can cause some concern when you have a date over and photos of you and your ex are dancing about on the screen.

Of course, the first instinct is to just exclude the photos sets that contain pictures of my ex.  However, that destroys most of the photos that have been taken over the last year.  Using such blunt tactics would literally leave a ‘photo hole’ in my life for nearly a twelve-month period.  I knew there had to be a better way and, after a little tinkering, I found it.

The latest release of iPhoto comes with a feature called ‘Faces‘.  This feature culls through your photo collection, or any new photos you upload, and does its best to recognize and tag the people in the picture.  It works fairly well (after some training), but I won’t get into a review here.   The feature is intended to allow the user to be able to quickly pull up all pictures in your collection that contain specific, or groups of, people.  So, for example, you can create a ‘Smart Album’ of only photos that contain your mom and dad.  iPhoto will look through your collection and pull out any photos that contain a person tagged as your dad and one tagged as your mom.  If it’s just of your mom (0r dad) it won’t show.

Getting back on point, I wondered why I couldn’t do this in reverse.  I wanted to set up an album that contained only photos that didn’t have my ex in them, but still left in pictures of the events and places that we were at.  So, I went into the parameter settings of creating a Smart Album and, lo and behold, there was a setting for ‘Face’ and ‘Is Not’.  I typed in my ex-girlfriend’s name and BAM!  Back were all the weddings we went to, without a shot of her in sight.  Back were the birthday parties we attended, minus the shots of me and her standing next to each other.  Even showing up were the pictures of when she moved into her house, only showing me carrying some boxes!

With this feature, I was able to ’surgically remove’ her from the pictures in my past without losing the memories of being there.  Sure, I’ll remember that she was a part of it, but at least I don’t have to explain to the new girl sitting on the couch next to me who that is that I’m kissing on the beach.

My name is Jon Levine. I do a lot of internet dating. A lot of women mention that I look like Dane Cook. I guess they think that’s OK. However, I don’t want to look like Dane Cook, I want to look like Jon Levine.

Bottom line: if you could stop looking like me, that would be great. Maybe a haircut… a shave… some plastic surgery… whatever, I’m not particular. Just make a change. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Jon Levine